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Having experienced a little of everything, I agree with MLA's comments on the whole....which shouldn't be surprising as he has experienced a little of everything too.
Pertaining to tower speakers:
I do not like smallish 6.5" HLCDs in general but among these IMO the Kicker HLCD is far and away the best. It's the only one that isn't over-the-top strident (provided you set the passive crossover correctly). If you go the dual pair of midbass drivers with one set of horns then it is competitive with a single pair of 8" HLCDs. But the Kicker HLCD is a component system and not a proaxial configuration. There are differences as Mike pointed out.
As for surf speakers or HLCD speakers, surface area is huge so I really encourage people to step up to a larger 8-inch speaker like a Wetsounds Icon8 in a surf speaker or a Wetsounds REV8 or perhaps a Exile XM9 in 8" HLCDs. There is no quantity replacement for larger cones and larger pods which deliver deeper midbass extention and a warmer overall tonal balance. While sound quality is always subjective, my taste runs with the Wetsounds plus I prefer the Wetsounds build quality.
Pertaining to in-boat speakers:
Mike mentioned the Kickers. Too many people form their opinion of Kicker marine speakers based on the introductory OEM
speakers using the W-domes which are peaky. The upper end Kickers with a true D-dome are a completely different sounding speaker. My taste runs with the JL Audio marine speakers because they are so linear (simply no false emphasis, peaks or valleys in the response) and so plausibly musical. Again, it's very subjective. And look, some guys run subs that are all about bass dominance as in "hit", "slam", "pound", "bump" as if all bass was percussion and no string instruments are involved. Those guys are going to want coaxials with highs that are just as aggressive as the subs they are running. 'Linear' and 'musicality' can go out the window. So many are going after something a little different and you have to consider this as part of the equation. You have to be a little careful about imposing your own taste on another boat owner of another age, budget, lifestyle (family 1st or party 1st), who listens to different types of music and who may have entirely different objectives. There is a product for everyone and no one product fits all.